The Ultimate Guide to Social Selling on LinkedIn

Table of Contents

• Importance of LinkedIn in Marketing 
• Tips for Social Selling on LinkedIn
• Key Takeaways 
• Conclusion 
• FAQs

As remote working has grown in popularity due to COVID, so has the use of digital/virtual sales tools. One such tool is LinkedIn. It can boost their income potential, meet quota, prospect more effectively, and build a more consistent funnel.

With the correct LinkedIn expertise, you can attract consumers, create leads, and increase your sales figures. No matter what you’re selling, LinkedIn can link you with buyers. You can keep in touch with clients and produce more repeat sales, develop trust, and create compelling content if you’re clever.

Social selling on LinkedIn is for anybody looking to sell using LinkedIn. Our blog covers all aspects of social and digital selling: building your LinkedIn profile, using LinkedIn’s advanced search functions to find customers, sending effective LinkedIn messages (written, audio, and video), creating great content, and posting interesting updates that people can interact with.

Importance of LinkedIn in Marketing

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By far, LinkedIn is one of the most important platforms in B2B social media (and increasingly in content marketing) for connecting with business buyers and experts. It helps develop relationships, establish leadership, lead generation, gain insights, do market research, improve reputation, and create online communities.

Let’s list below some of the reasons why LinkedIn is crucial for you.

LinkedIn > Facebook

According to the Social Media Marketing Industry Report, LinkedIn has surpassed Facebook as the most significant social platform for B2B marketers. While 21% of B2C marketers named LinkedIn as their top platform, 41% of B2B marketers named it first, compared to only 30% of B2B marketers who thought Facebook was the most important social media site.

Powerful social media recruiting tool

According to LinkedIn’s study, professional networking sites have witnessed a 73% growth in job recruiting usage compared to a 15% increase for online job boards and a 16% reduction for staffing agencies. For the past four to five years, using this platform to recruit bright workers has become a new trend and a successful method.

Traffic building

One of LinkedIn’s capabilities that aren’t generally recognized is its ability to establish links and drive traffic. Instead of Facebook, LinkedIn is more widely used to distribute business content.

Like other social networks, it features a social sharing option that allows you to share material from your status updates and LinkedIn Groups that you are a part of. This is particularly useful for business-related content, and it has the potential to go viral.

Listening and gaining insights

Last but not least, LinkedIn is ideal for listening, asking questions, and gaining insights. This applies to all types of social media marketing!

Tips for Social Selling on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is one of the most successful social media platforms for selling.

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Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat help you learn more about your prospects’ interests and personalities, warming them up before reaching out, and expanding your subject matter expertise. However, LinkedIn selling is typically the only platform that leads to new business. Below are some tips on how to take advantage of social selling on LinkedIn.

1. Use LinkedIn’s advanced search functions

LinkedIn is a professional social networking site that provides a wealth of business relationships.

How can salespeople, job seekers, and recruiters locate precisely who they’re seeking in a marketplace with over 20 million available opportunities and 30 million companies? Looking for available marketing manager roles in the greater San Francisco region at tech startups with fewer than 50 employees? LinkedIn’s advanced search option can do all this.

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In LinkedIn search, there are a few advanced search operators that can assist you in getting the results you want. Here are some suggestions about how to put them to good use:

• Quoted searches
• NOT operator
• OR operator
• AND operator
• Parenthetical searches
• Title operator
• Company operator
• School operator
• Country operator

2. Build out your profile

Your LinkedIn profile serves as a professional landing place for you to maintain your online reputation. A LinkedIn profile is a fantastic opportunity to let others learn who you are, what you believe in, and what you’re passionate about.

Make sure your profile is thorough and representative of you because it will be your storyboard where others can discover you and stay up-to-date on your activities.

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All LinkedIn users can see your profile. You do, however, have control over what appears on your profile, as well as network notifications and privacy settings.

3. Manage your professional brand

You can shape how other members perceive your professional expertise and credentials. You may tailor your profile to meet your demands because you will have total control over its exposure. Thanks to your personalized profile, recruiters and other members will better grasp your professional personality.

4. Create opportunities for you

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Because LinkedIn is used by people and organizations worldwide, having a LinkedIn profile will help you stand out.

An up-to-date profile is a terrific way to guarantee that the appropriate people find you at the right moment. It’s also a fantastic way to find job vacancies and interact with recruiters. Once you’ve completed your LinkedIn profile, you’ll be in a better position to find possibilities.

5. Establish a professional network and keep track of your achievements

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You may keep track and highlight all of your professional accomplishments (new job, work anniversary, promotion, etc.) on your LinkedIn profile. In addition to your professional achievements, it will allow you to highlight your skills to other users who see your profile. An updated profile makes it easier to meet new people and form relationships.

6. Take advantage of LinkedIn InMail

It’s no surprise that getting in touch with senior decision-makers is the most challenging thing to do. After all, they are bombarded with hundreds of calls, messages, and emails daily. Unfortunately, this results in them ignoring most of their emails and having many people below them to screen every single call and message.

There are ways to get in touch with these senior executives using the age-old traditional channels that are extremely guarded. However, the best way to get in touch with them is LinkedIn’s InMail.

This is LinkedIn’s internal messaging system that allows any user to send a message to another user without the need for an introduction. This is a guaranteed way for the message to reach their inbox.

In fact, LinkedIn claims that an InMail is 30x more likely to get a response compared to a cold call or message. Note that this feature is only available if you use LinkedIn Premium.

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Once you have captured their attention, you must engage with the content of your target market and then invite them to connect with you. To achieve this successfully, you’ll need to use the LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

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As you begin to engage with your target market, you’ll see that some will accept your invitation and join your network but will not react. This is where you follow up with them and strike up a conversation.

7. Developing and distributing content

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You must create and disseminate compelling, targeted information via status updates in the newsfeed. When someone accepts your invitation, they become a member of your network. This implies your material will begin to appear in their newsfeed.

8. Post interesting updates that people can interact with

The goal of LinkedIn is to enhance interaction by prioritizing relevant material. People want to enjoy content from people they know or choose to follow to gain knowledge and insight. Hence, only relevant material will garner the most attention and shares.

In our opinion, we believe it’s best to present your point of view on an issue that is highly debated in your industry. The more contentious the topic, the more interest it generates. This is why you need to tread carefully on this one. In the comments, ask your audience what they think.

You can also talk about what your predictions about that particular industry are. Speculating about it can result in a lot of interest in your comments. Share your forecasts about how your industry will evolve, what the industry’s future looks like, what the future looks like for firms, and so on.

9. Create or share an infographic

This is the simplest way to distribute facts in an easy-to-understand format. Create your own with Canva, or curate someone else’s, but be sure to credit them in your post.

10. Analyze how a consumer could use your product or service

Is there a client who makes novel use of your product? How do your customers or users get the most value from your product?

11. Demonstrate what happens if you do nothing

You’re certainly used to talking about the benefits of your product or service when your clients utilize it, but what are the dangers if they don’t? What do they think they’re losing out on?

12. Crowdsource your post

For instance, ask ten employees in your office for the greatest advice they would provide to someone interested in your business. Boom. You now have an article titled “10 Travel Experts Offer Advice on Breaking Into the Industry.” While you are at it, make sure you determine your best-performing post from the previous six months. Ensure that you’re reposting them.

You’re Ready to Start Selling On LinkedIn

If social selling becomes your new normal, it will significantly influence your business. A powerful tool like LinkedIn Sales Navigator can help you achieve social selling success even more. Make sure sales and marketing are on the same page with standard definitions, KPIs, and a mission statement to get started.

Key Takeaways

• LinkedIn is a professional social networking platform. It is the world’s largest professional social media network, with millions of users. Suppose you’re a marketing executive, a magazine editor, a journalist, a company owner, or even a first-year college student looking for their first job after graduation. In that case, LinkedIn is the right social media site for you.
• LinkedIn is for anyone who wants to take their professional life more seriously by seeking new possibilities to further their career and networking with other professionals.
• LinkedIn is one of the most successful social media platforms for selling.
• While social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat help learn more about your prospects’ interests and personalities, warming them up before reaching out, and expanding your subject matter expertise, LinkedIn selling is typically the only platform that leads to new business.
• In general, when salespeople utilize their social media accounts to communicate directly with their prospects and consumers, it is referred to as “social selling.” Although the term “social selling” may be more particular to sales teams, a social selling approach may also involve the marketing team.
• Social selling on LinkedIn refers to the use of LinkedIn to locate, connect with, and create connections with leads and prospects to increase sales. You may meet with a prospect on Thursday, schedule a call with them the following Tuesday, show them a demo the next Friday, and close before the weekend.

Conclusion

Social LinkedIn selling may be highly beneficial to a sales force when adequately taught and implemented.

Social LinkedIn selling is vital to living and succeeding in today’s sales climate. The sooner you can learn this, the more quickly you will be able to meet targets, expand your pipeline, increase your profitability, and improve your team’s abilities.

Because the nature of social media is certain to change in the future, ongoing social LinkedIn selling training is a critical investment for any business looking to future-proof its pipeline and revenue development.

FAQs